We need your help advocating for Seneca Valley

We are writing to you today on behalf of all of our students in the Seneca Valley Cluster of schools. This includes students who attend or will attend S. Christa McAuliffe, Dr. Sally K. Ride, Lake Seneca, and Waters Landing Elementary Schools; Roberto Clemente and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle Schools; and Seneca Valley High School.

Specifically, we are concerned that the MCPS and the Board of Education will delay the modernization of Seneca Valley High School again. Currently, the upgrade of the Seneca Valley has been delayed for years, and is not scheduled to be completed until 2018. There is a very real danger that the modernization will be put off for yet another year.

Each year of delay is a year where our students fall farther behind other students in almost all of the parts of the county in terms of the educational resources provided to them. Delaying modernization means outdated laboratories, outdated technical equipment, less class choices and our students not getting the same advantages as other MCPS students.

Here is what the Waters Landing PTA is doing to try and correct this situation. A letter clearly outlining the problem and our requested solution has been created and will be sent to the Board of Education and Dr. Joshua P. Starr (Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent) this week. Testimony will be given on this issue by a member of the Seneca Valley Cluster before the Board of Education at their upcoming meeting held on November 15th (testimony is scheduled for 8:20 p.m.).

How can you help? There are two ways in which we are requesting your help in encouraging the Board of Education to put the modernization of Seneca Valley High School back on track. First, write a letter of support and send it to the Board of Education sometime during November 7 – 14, 2012. (A template letter is included for your convenience, but feel free to write your own letter if you wish. The mailing address is included at the top of the template letter.) Second, come to the Board of Education meeting and hold up a sign indicating your support of the Seneca Valley Cluster. Our message is our kids have Just One Chance. (A simple sign is included for your convenience.)

Thank you for your time and your help in improving Germantown schools!